SHILLONG, Aug 28 - Meghalaya Government has decided to keep rural areas outside the ambit of the present Building Bye-laws and adopt a separate Building Bye-law for the rural areas.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma after a meeting recently with a delegation of Hill State People’s Democratic Party legislators and Members of the District Council. Several legislators and NGOs registered their protest arguing that the newly-enacted bye-laws should not be implemented in Scheduled areas of the State, which are largely rural in nature.

Additional Chief Secretary KS Kropha said the Government would soon issue a notification that would keep the rural areas out of the present Building Bye-laws. The present regulations would be applicable in places classified as urban areas as per the 2011 census, Kropha informed.

He, however, added regulations for the rural areas would be chalked out separately so that the entire State follows some regulations during construction of buildings. “The new Building Bye-laws would be exclusively for the rural areas,” he said.

Kropha said the new regulations would be adopted by the Government after the draft rules are put up in the public domain.

Basaiawmoit said he was against the present building regulations intruding into rural areas. He reiterated that it has become difficult for the people in the rural areas to get permission from Meghalaya Urban Development Authority to build their small houses. “There was no clarity in the present Building Bye-laws about its jurisdiction,” he stated.